How to generate and correctly interpret Failover Cluster Log

Very often it is required to generate cluster log if the eventlog information’s are not enough to nail down your root cause and for getting a better understanding what is happening under the hood of your failover cluster.

Hereby are some useful articles and techniques for how to generate cluster logs and of course how to correctly read and interpret them:

Anatomy of a Cluster Log Entry
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc962179.aspx

Techniques for Tracking the Source of a Problem
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc962185.aspx

Interpreting the Cluster Log
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc961673.aspx

Cluster Log Basics
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc962184.aspx

Understanding the Cluster Debug Log in 2008
https://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/04/13/understanding-the-cluster-debug-log-in-2008.aspx

Windows Server 2008 and R2 Cluster Log Appears to Be Missing Gaps of Data
https://blogs.technet.com/b/thbrown/archive/2010/07/31/windows-server-2008-and-r2-cluster-log-and-missing-gaps-of-data.aspx

View Events and Logs for a Failover Cluster
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc772342.aspx

TechNet Webcast: Failover Cluster Validation and Troubleshooting with Windows Server 2008 (Level 300)
https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032364832&CountryCode=US

Failover Clustering: Pro Troubleshooting in Windows Server 2008 (PPT)
https://media.ch9.ms/teched/na/2011/ppt/WSV309.pptx
https://ecn.channel9.msdn.com/o9/te/NorthAmerica/2010/pptx/WSV314.pptx

How to create the cluster.log in Windows Server 2008 Failover Clustering
https://blogs.msdn.com/b/clustering/archive/2008/09/24/8962934.aspx

DBA 101: Collecting and Interpreting Failover Cluster Logs
https://blogs.msdn.com/b/joesack/archive/2010/02/09/dba-101-collecting-and-interpreting-failover-cluster-logs.aspx

Introduction to Cluster Diagnostics and Verification Tool for Exchange Administrators
https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996161(EXCHG.65).aspx

How to turn on cluster logging in Microsoft Cluster Server (W2K3)
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/168801

The meaning of state codes in the Cluster log
https://support.microsoft.com/kb/286052

Failover Cluster Troubleshooting
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189117.aspx

Troubleshooting Cluster Logs 101 – Why did the resources failover to the other node?
https://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2008/02/06/troubleshooting-cluster-logs-101-why-did-the-resources-failover-to-the-other-node.aspx

Hope this helps to understand more what is going on under the hood of your failover cluster, especially in root cause analyses (RCA), test and/or proof-of-concept scenarios it is really helpful to be able to read and interpret the cluster logs.

Stay tuned

Best Regards

Ramazan